Li Shu was truly exhausted.

She had not slept at all the previous night. The morning air was neither hot nor cold, and a cool breeze drifted in from the lakeside — it was the perfect weather for dozing off. Add to that the fact that she had already laid her plans and had nothing pressing weighing on her heart, plus the sight of Shen Xiao standing as still as a post while he fished, not moving a muscle for what felt like half a day — and before long, Li Shu had watched him long enough to drift off to sleep.

When she woke, she was still somewhat dazed. Out of habit, she murmured, “Hong Luo, what hour is it?”

Shen Xiao, still fishing, gave a slight start. Her voice carried a faint huskiness and a blurred, cottony quality — it slipped into his ears and burrowed all the way down into his body, leaving him with an odd, restless sensation.

All at once, he remembered: on a certain night three years ago, she had spoken in just this way.

Shen Xiao rarely made a point of revisiting that incident. He had stored the entire episode of serving in her bedchamber in a corner of his mind, wrapped in a dense fog so that the details all blurred together.

That way it would not distract him too much.

But now her voice was like a branch that had reached out silently from within the fog, snagging his sleeve and holding him fast so he could not move.

Shen Xiao steadied himself and replied, “It is nearly noon.”

Li Shu heard his voice and jolted fully awake — only then did she realize she had fallen asleep right there at the lakeside.

Shen Xiao was now standing at an angle just ahead of her. He still held his fishing rod, the slender line hanging down to the surface of the lake. He wore the same dark teal official robe, as straight and upright as green bamboo, and he had tilted his head to look at her.

Li Shu rubbed between her brows. Her speech was still somewhat muddled. “To think I slept this long…”

It was nearly noon — by rights the sun should have been shining directly on her long ago.

Li Shu glanced up. She saw that Shen Xiao’s spine was perfectly straight, and that he had positioned himself just in front of her — whether deliberately or not — shielding her from the sunlight.

His shadow fell squarely over her, and there was something almost watchful, almost protective, about it.

The sun had baked a faint sheen of sweat onto his face, turning his complexion a very slight shade of pink. Oddly enough, it suited him better than his usual stern and unsmiling expression.

Li Shu came fully to her senses and rose from the camp stool. She was just about to say “This Princess has been most discourteous” when Shen Xiao seemed to sense the movement. He turned back toward the lake at once, and in a single smooth motion his palm shifted and he drew in the line — within moments, he had pulled up another fish.

Water droplets flew off the fish in an arc that caught the sunlight and flashed brilliantly. The fish traced a perfect curve before landing in the creel at Shen Xiao’s feet.

Only then did Shen Xiao put away his rod and look at Li Shu.

“Your Highness, the fish have been caught.”

The whole sequence had been effortless and fluid, accomplished in one seamless motion. It was truly… something to behold.

Shen Xiao’s gaze dropped to the creel beside his feet. “Your Highness asked me to catch three. However, this official was not careful and caught twenty.”

There was something in his tone — a barely perceptible note of smugness.

Li Shu looked at the creel, full to the brim…

Twenty fish, not one more, not one less. And he thought one fish would buy him ten thousand shi of grain? In his dreams.

Li Shu forced herself to offer praise, teeth slightly clenched. “Lord Shen has a fine hand for fishing!”

Shen Xiao smiled faintly. “Your Highness flatters me.”

He was very skilled at fishing, and genuinely enjoyed it. Before entering government service, his family had been poor, and sometimes when the food ran out he would sling his books over his back and make his way to some rarely visited mountain stream, where he would recite texts to himself while he fished.

A full day of that and he could catch a great many fish — enough to keep him fed for several days.

The fish raised in Princess Pingyang’s mansion, having lived without a care in the world, were slow-witted creatures. Even after they had bitten the hook, they did not think to flee. The twenty he had caught were the product of restraint — given a large enough creel, he could have emptied the mansion’s pond entirely.

And yet Princess Pingyang had sat there all morning without catching so much as a single one, and then had the nerve to blame him for scaring away her fish.

It was plainly that she did not know how to fish.

How could anyone in this world not know how to fish?

Foolish.

Li Shu stared at the creel, and the twenty lively, leaping fish inside seemed to be openly mocking her inability to catch one.

She waved a maidservant over. “Take these to the kitchen — keep three. The rest…”

Li Shu turned to Shen Xiao with a smile. “…send them all to Lord Shen’s residence. Lord Shen looks quite thin — some fish broth will do him good.”

Shen Xiao had not even gotten a word in before he heard Li Shu add another instruction. “Oh — and don’t forget to ask Lord Shen’s household steward for the payment. Crucian carp raised in This Princess’s estate goes for ten taels of silver per fish. Not a single fen less.”

Li Shu smiled at Shen Xiao.

She had told him to catch three, so why had he gone and caught so many? Did he think he was the only one in the whole world who could fish?

Shen Xiao clenched his jaw and swallowed the outrage of this swindle.

One hundred and seventy taels of silver — if it could buy him thirty thousand shi of grain from her, he would be glad to pay it.

But… Shen Xiao’s brow furrowed. He had a nagging feeling that Li Shu had no real intention of lending the grain today. It seemed as though she was simply toying with him for her own amusement.

One moment she had him fishing, the next she was selling him the fish.

After all his dealings with Li Shu, the impression he had formed of her was simple and could be summed up in two words.

A politician.

Princess Pingyang was a politician through and through — she never stirred without a purpose, and every action she took was part of some deeper scheme. Nothing she did was isolated, nothing she did was idle. It was impossible that she was simply bored and messing around with him for sport.

He suspected that Li Shu had received him at the mansion today with some deeper plan in mind.

Shen Xiao’s gaze grew heavy with thought. Whatever her scheme, he could not allow it to block his path to securing the grain.

Shen Xiao clasped his hands in a bow. “Your Highness, this official has now caught three fish. Might I ask where Your Highness’s thirty thousand shi of grain might be?”

Li Shu looked at Shen Xiao, whose every thought was clearly occupied with the grain levy, and sighed. “Lord Shen, do you have any idea how much thirty thousand shi of grain actually is? One granary holds three thousand shi; ten granaries hold thirty thousand. Have a look around this estate and see whether you can find ten granaries.”

“Ten granaries — that is no small quantity. Even if This Princess were willing to release the grain, it cannot simply be handed over this very moment.”

Shen Xiao’s thick brows drew together even further. He felt that Li Shu was deliberately stalling.

“Then when exactly can the grain be released? This official would ask Your Highness for a firm answer, so that I may arrange the men and carts to transport it.”

Li Shu said, “Lord Shen, there is no need to rush.”

She waved over one of the eunuch attendants. “Go and fetch the record-keeper to the study. This Princess has questions for him.”

The attendant received his instructions and hurried off. Li Shu walked ahead without further ceremony, and Shen Xiao quickly followed. They passed along a covered corridor and through a gate into a courtyard — wide and spacious, with six rooms in a row, the stone-flagged ground swept clean and even.

The sweeping maidservants in the courtyard caught sight of Li Shu and stopped their work at once, curtseying and holding their breath, resuming their tasks only once she had passed.

A maidservant lifted the curtain and Li Shu entered the main room. Shen Xiao realized then that this was her study.

The study was broad and open, with no partitions, and at first glance there was nothing but scrolls and books wherever the eye fell. Li Shu settled herself behind the writing table.

Shen Xiao stood in the hall and looked toward Li Shu, seated behind the table.

The bookshelves soared high, packed to overflowing. Any other woman seated in that principal chair would have felt diminished by them. But Li Shu, though slender, carried a proud, assured air as she sat there, as though the entire room of shelves existed only to serve her.

Shen Xiao had never seen that quality in any other woman.

A maidservant brought in a tea cup. Shen Xiao took a seat in the guest’s chair.

A short while later, the young eunuch attendant led in a minor official who entered the study and made his bow. He was the record-keeper for the Princess’s household.

The record-keeper saluted Li Shu. Li Shu asked, “Which estate holds thirty thousand shi of grain?”

The record-keeper fell silent for a moment, as if sorting through his memory, then spoke. “Your Highness, thirty thousand shi is a considerable amount. Adding together the few estates outside the city comes to only a few thousand shi in total.”

Li Shu’s patience was already wearing thin. “This Princess asked you which estate has thirty thousand shi — not which ones don’t.”

Her voice was not loud, but the record-keeper hurried to apologize all the same.

Shen Xiao watched Li Shu and suddenly realized that she was, in fact, a person of considerable authority. Until now he had only ever perceived her as cold and distant.

Today he had seen many different sides of Li Shu: the quietly sleeping one, the one with commanding presence, and then the familiar ones — the lightly mocking and sardonic one, the cool and taciturn one, and the languid, unhurried one from that night three years ago.

Strange — how could all of these qualities exist together in Princess Pingyang?

The record-keeper thought for a moment. “The estate in Wannian County holds the most grain, though the exact figure would need to be verified. Thirty thousand shi should be achievable there. But Wannian County is far away — when does Your Highness need it?”

Li Shu glanced at Shen Xiao. “Lord Shen, when do you need it?”

Shen Xiao’s eyes lit up and he rose immediately, clasping his hands toward Li Shu in a deep bow. “Many thanks, Your Highness — this official —”

He had not finished speaking when Hong Luo came rushing into the study.

Hong Luo’s face was anxious. “Your Highness, Eunuch Chen from the Eastern Palace has arrived.”

She deliberately glanced toward Shen Xiao as she said it. “Eunuch Chen does not look well — it seems he has come carrying… the Crown Prince’s wishes.”

Li Shu’s expression turned grave at once. Her brow furrowed.

Shen Xiao watched clearly. He recalled that when she had dozed against the tree trunk just now, she had been frowning too — as though even in her dreams she could not find a moment’s peace from the burdens of court affairs.

Why would Li Shu look like this when the Crown Prince sent a man? Shen Xiao thought about it. It was probably because of himself. He had entered Princess Pingyang’s mansion just this morning, and on his heels the Crown Prince had dispatched a messenger. Shen Xiao knew perfectly well where the Crown Prince stood on the matter of the grain levy.

The Crown Prince had sent someone because he feared Princess Pingyang would give the grain.

He himself was pressing her to release it. And now someone else was pressing her not to.

Shen Xiao looked at her, and for a moment felt a flicker of something like pity.

She looked distinguished on the outside, but in reality she was caught between opposing forces, and her life was not easy.

Li Shu said to Hong Luo, “I understand. Have a change of clothes brought — I’ll go directly.”

She glanced at Shen Xiao. “Unexpectedly, the mansion has a guest. I must trouble Lord Shen to wait a short while. Hong Luo, take Lord Shen for a stroll around the estate.”

*

Though Eunuch Chen was a palace eunuch, a seventh-rank official before the door of a chief minister is greater than a first-rank official elsewhere — and the Eastern Palace’s own eunuchs ranked even higher. Should any negligence in attending to him get back to his ears and be twisted into something unpleasant, one would have no way to defend oneself.

And so the maidservants were all on their best behavior, waiting on him with careful attention.

He sat in the reception hall. A maidservant came forward with a cup of tea. Eunuch Chen lifted the lid and inhaled the fragrance.

This was pre-rain Dragon Well tea from the Jiangnan circuit, offered as tribute just last month. His Majesty had bestowed some on a few of the favored imperial princes and princesses.

To receive him with such tea was quite considerate indeed.

The reception hall had ice basins in every corner. Even though it was the height of summer outside, the interior was as cool and comfortable as a night in autumn. Eunuch Chen had just sat down and sipped his tea when he saw Princess Pingyang enter the hall.

Eunuch Chen quickly set down his tea cup, rose, and saluted. “This servant pays respects to Your Highness.”

Li Shu smiled at Eunuch Chen. “No need for such formality, Eunuch.”

She settled into the principal seat. “I was occupied with something in the mansion and kept the Eunuch waiting.”

Seeing that Eunuch Chen’s cup was already half empty, Li Shu asked, “How did you find the pre-rain Dragon Well?”

Eunuch Chen smiled and nodded. “Your Highness is too kind. This servant is a crude person — I know nothing of appreciating fine teas.”

Li Shu also smiled. “My first thought was to serve you the pre-Qingming tea, but the pre-Qingming Dragon Well has lost its flavor by now, so there was nothing to be done — you will have to make do with the pre-rain variety.”

Eunuch Chen smiled again. “Your Highness is too kind.”

Who had ever said Princess Pingyang was cold and aloof? Was she not treating him with considerable respect?

Noticing Li Shu’s courteous manner, he assumed she would not dare to offend him, and a hint of arrogance crept into his bearing. “Your Highness mentioned just now that the mansion had something to attend to? What sort of matter, if I may ask?”

Li Shu heard this and her expression immediately cooled. Her smile vanished at once.

This question from Eunuch Chen was exceedingly rude — it was plainly prying into her private affairs. Who would dare speak to a princess in such a manner?

He had no one to rely on but the Crown Prince behind him.

Li Shu glanced at Eunuch Chen. Her gaze sharpened for just an instant before she quickly tucked the emotion away.

She resumed smiling. “Nothing of consequence. The Ministry of Revenue’s Supervising Official, Shen Xiao, came to call on me this morning and is still here in the mansion.”

Eunuch Chen raised an eyebrow. “Oh… the Shen Xiao in charge of the grain levy?”

Li Shu replied, “The very same.”

Eunuch Chen sipped his tea and leaned back in his chair, his voice thin and sharp. “And what does Your Highness… have in mind?”

Li Shu looked at Eunuch Chen again.

He was, in the end, nothing more than a man who waited on others — yet because he came bearing the Crown Prince’s command, he dared to put on airs in front of her.

She took a sip of tea and swallowed the cold curl of her lips. When she set down the cup, she wore a courteous expression once more.

She smiled. “Eunuch’s question is unnecessary. Just yesterday at the palace banquet, This Princess told the Crown Prince plainly — This Princess will not agree to release the grain.”

“Yet why does Your Highness…”

Eunuch Chen gestured toward outside. “…choose to receive Lord Shen? His Highness the Crown Prince does not understand, and has specifically sent this servant to ask.”

Li Shu gave a cold, silent snort.

The Crown Prince truly was attentive toward her! The moment she made any move that fell outside his expectations, he would dispatch someone to deliver a warning.

Li Shu pressed her fingers around the tea cup — it was warm, warm enough to sting her hand.

She set the cup down, her gaze drifting toward the garden outside the hall. After a moment, as though catching sight of something, she glanced back at Eunuch Chen with a courteous smile.

“It is my fault — I ought to have consulted the Crown Prince before acting.”

“His Majesty asked me yesterday to release the grain. Out of loyalty and devotion to the Crown Prince, I naturally cannot do so. However, if I were to refuse His Majesty outright, my life would become quite difficult afterward. I ask the Crown Prince’s forbearance.”

Eunuch Chen’s expression cooled. “What does Your Highness mean by this? This servant didn’t quite follow. I won’t know how to report back to His Highness the Crown Prince.”

Li Shu said, “What I mean is: I shall first make a concession to His Majesty. I’ll receive Lord Shen here in the mansion and give him a hint — however much grain he asks for, I will agree to provide. However…”

“…This Princess’s estates are scattered across various parts of the Guanzhong region, and assembling the grain will take some time. By the time it is all gathered together… it will likely be the end of the month.”

Eunuch Chen started, then broke into a smile.

Princess Pingyang was employing a delaying tactic.

On the surface it looked as though she had softened her stance before the Emperor, giving her word that the grain would be provided, so His Majesty would have no grounds to press her. Yet with only days left before the deadline, she would keep finding reasons to delay and would hold off until the end of the sixth month — at which point the matter would simply be closed.

In this way, she neither betrayed the Crown Prince nor openly defied His Majesty.

Eunuch Chen clapped his hands together in admiration. “Your Highness is most clever.”

Li Shu smiled and took another sip of tea. “Eunuch flatters me.”

She set down her cup and noticed, through the window lattice carved with the pattern of blessings and longevity, what seemed to be a faint shadow hovering on the other side.

Li Shu smiled and tilted her head slightly, then continued speaking to Eunuch Chen. “As for Shen Xiao… Eunuch need not worry. These next few days I intend to receive him often. Since I find myself at leisure recently, I may as well use the grain loan as a pretext to amuse myself with him. Otherwise the days stretch on and on and are terribly dull — don’t you agree, Eunuch?”

Her tone was that of someone speaking about a pet.

Eunuch Chen laughed at that. “Just so, just so. This servant shall go back and relay a word to His Highness the Crown Prince. Your Highness, with nothing to occupy you, is simply seeking a little amusement.”

Eunuch Chen could relate to this deeply.

The days inside the deep palace always seemed longer than those outside. When he grew bored at times, he too would go and seek out some little palace maid or young eunuch for his entertainment, watching them bow and scrape before him. It was rather amusing indeed.